


He Loves Me, He Loves Me Knot

by Love_andbalance



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Happy Ending, Knotting, Masturbation, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Minor Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Oral Sex, Reylo - Freeform, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex, first heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23970979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Love_andbalance/pseuds/Love_andbalance
Summary: Based on an idea from @Reylo_prompts on Twitter.A When in Rome AU, with an A/B/O twistRey is a devoted, career driven Beta, fresh off a breakup that has her questioning whether she will ever want a relationship again.She attends her Omega best friend's wedding in Rome, despite questioning the validity of Rose's feelings for her fiance. She suspects that the bond they share is due more to hormones than love.A brief flirtation with Alpha best man Ben leaves her wondering if she had been too hasty in swearing off love, and wishing there were more Beta men in the world that are as intriguing as this unattainable Alpha.When she plucks a coin from a legendary fountain and it triggers her first heat, she has to wade through a sudden influx of Alphas and decide if there is room for real love in this new world of physically driven mating urges.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 149
Kudos: 626
Collections: Reylo Prompt Fills (@reylo_prompts)





	1. An Alpha

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at an A/B/O story so I am still learning! Please be kind in pointing out any mistakes!

“Did we really have to go all the way to Rome for this?” Rey settled into her seat on the plane, wrinkling her nose at the abysmal leg room and the already fussing child seated directly behind her. “There are plenty of very romantic wedding venues closer to home if you insist on having a rushed wedding with this Alpha of yours.”

Her lifelong best friend simply raised a judgmental eyebrow and dropped into the seat next to her. “Yes, we absolutely did. I know it’s a small ceremony since the only people that are coming are you and his best friend Ben, but we wanted it to be special.”

Rey drummed her fingers on the armrest that she shared with Rose. “Are you sure, really _sure_ , that you want to do this? You just met him!”

Rose smiled, and Rey had to admit that she seemed genuinely happy. Still, how much of that was genuine, and how much of it was just weird Omega hormones?

“I’m so sure,” Rose stated firmly. “God, he’s just perfect. He smells _so good_.” She shivered a little at the thought if before narrowing her eyes at Rey. “You just don’t want to take the time off work. You’re my favorite work-a-holic.”

Rey bristled, even though there was a shred of truth in it. She really didn’t want to miss work to go to Rome, but it was a sensitive subject.

It hadn’t been that long since her boyfriend had dumped her. Too little time for him, he’d claimed, and it had stung.

“Hux smells like any Alpha smells and I’m just very career focused right now,” she muttered,” I have goals.”

Rose laughed, shaking her head. “I’m sure to you he smells like any Alpha, but to me he smells like everything wonderful. It’s different for Betas.”

Rey took a moment to say a quick prayer of thanksgiving that she didn’t have to deal with any of the complexities of Omega life. Imagine being so overrun by hormones that it seemed reasonable to let your career take a back seat because of the way some strange man smelled.

She’s rather be in charge of her own destiny, thank you very much.

“I think you should have tried a higher dose of suppressants,” she told Rose honestly, “but I will support you in any decision. You know that.”

Rose flashed Rey her best smile and they settled in for a painfully long flight. The leg room was a problem, and the crying children didn’t help. Neither of them got any sleep and they were both exhausted by the time the plane’s wheels touched down on the airport tarmac.

It was early morning when they arrived in Rome, and they trudged their way through long lines in customs and the nightmare of baggage claim, though they both heaved sighs of relief to discover that all of their bags had made it to the same place they had.

“When are we supposed to be meeting Hux and his friend?” Rey asked as they both collapsed into an exhausted heap in the back of a taxi. “And you should have married a man who at least lived in the same state. The wedding plans would have been a lot easier if we all few in together.”

“They’re supposed to get here tonight,” Rose muttered, trying to stifle a yawn with her hand. She had her eyes closed already and the taxi hadn’t even pulled away from the curb.

“Let’s take a sinfully long nap when we get to the hotel then,” Rey begged, but Rose was already mostly asleep. Her only answer was a small nod.

Rey fought hard to keep her eyes open as the taxi driver maneuvered through the dangerous city traffic. If there were any rules of the road in Rome, she was too tired to make any sense of them, and the ride was a blur of aggressive lane changes and loudly honking horns.

She was relieved when they arrived at the hotel in one piece, even if it did take quite a bit of shoving to get a bleary eyed Rose to get out of the car and help her drag their bags into the lobby.

Twenty minutes later, after waiting in a frustratingly long line to check-in to their rooms, Rey collapsed next to Rose on the first bed she came to and passed out.

Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was how glad she was that she would never have to deal with being caught up in some whirlwind Alpha/Omega romance.

Rose’s phone ringing woke them both several hours later and Rey sat up groggily while Rose muttered into the phone. She felt better after such a long nap, but a quick glance out the window told her that it was already evening. The sun was already setting, and there was no way she would be able to sleep any time soon.

“That was Hux,” Rose said, rolling over onto her back to stare dreamily at the ceiling, “they just made it to the lobby and got Ben checked-in at the desk. They’re on their way up.”

Rey sighed and stood up. “I guess that means I should take myself and my stuff to my own room. Wouldn’t want to intrude on your alone time with your Alpha,” she said, waggling her eyebrows at Rose suggestively.

Rose sat up, pulling a pillow into her lap and grinning at Rey. “We need to find you a new man. Maybe in a year or so we can be back here celebrating your wedding.” She laughed at Rey’s expression of exaggerated disgust, but then grew serious. “Beaumont wasn’t good enough for you, and the right man will support your goals, not make you feel bad for having them.”

Rey shook her head. Six months after the breakup and it still felt like it was too soon to talk about it, and too soon to seriously consider dating.

“No men for me. Not right now.”

Rose jumped up from the bed and wrapped her in an enthusiastic hug. Nobody in her life had ever made feel as loved and supported as Rose.

“I may not understand it,” Rey said quietly, squeezing her best friend tightly, “but I am so glad that you’re happy.”

“I just want you to be happy, too” Rose said, and they both pulled away to wipe at the tears on their cheeks.

Rey laughed and bent down to grab her bags. “I’m going, before we get any more sentimental or the groom shows up to kick me out.”

She shifted the bags in her hand and opened the door but ran straight into one of the two people standing on the other side of it.

“Oof, sorry!” she muttered, taking a quick faltering step back from the hard body she had run into while Rose squealed at the sight of her fiancé. A strong hand came up to grab her elbow, steadying her before she fell.

Hux moved past her to embrace Rose, but the other man stayed awkwardly in the doorway, his hand still clutching her arm.

She looked up to apologize again, to thank him for the helping hand, and her eyes traveled up and up the largest body she had ever seen.

The deep black of his hair was a shock against the paleness of his skin, but it looked soft as it curled down over his collar. He had a long nose, high cheeks and soft lips.

He was peering down at her, brows knitted in concern. “Are you alright?” he asked in a deep voice that made her stomach flutter.

She took a deep, steadying breath and his scent assaulted her nostrils.

Alpha.

She ignored the small twinge of disappointment and shot him her best smile. There was no need to be disappointed that such a handsome man was an Alpha. She didn’t need the distraction right now anyway.

“I’m fine, thank you. You must be Ben! I’m Rey, Rose’s best friend and maid of honor.” She extended a hand and he let go of her elbow to shake it.

His hand engulfed hers, hard and warm as he gave it a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, I’m Ben. Nice to meet you, Rey. Were you on your way out?” He stepped back to make room for her to step out into the hallway.

“Yeah, I’m just moving across the hall into my own room. It was a rough flight and I spent the last few hours napping in Rose’s room. I’m not going to get any sleep tonight.”

She plopped her bags down next to the door of her own room and began to rummage around in her bag for the keycard.

“We slept most of the flight over. I’m wide awake.” She smiled at him over her shoulder as she swung her door open. He was just standing in the hall, watching her.

“Oh good, you two have met,” Hux stepped back into view, leaning on the door frame with one arm wrapped around Rose.

Ben nodded.

“Well, we’re gonna get settled in,” Rose said with a smile. “See you two in the morning?”

“Settled in,” Rey said with a snort.

Rose giggled as Hux closed the door, leaving Rey standing alone in the hallway with Ben.

“It was nice to meet you,” Rey said, cutting into the suddenly awkward silence. She edged her door closed a few inches, but stopped when he tilted his head, considering her.

“If you’re really not tired, do you want to go with me to hunt up some food? I slept plenty on the plane, but the food was horrible and I’m starving. I don’t really feel like roaming around the city alone.”

Rey understood that and realized she had totally forgotten about meals today when her stomach rumbled loudly. She laughed, “I guess that answers that. You still haven’t even put your bags up and I’d like to change into something that hasn’t been slept in. I’ll meet you in the lobby in twenty minutes?”

She closed the door as he moved to open the door to the room next to hers.

It didn’t take her long to change. She slipped into a casual sundress, ran a brush through her hair, and added some mascara and tinted lip gloss. A quick glance in the mirror told her she looked like a tourist, but that was fine.

The lobby was still crowded when she emerged from the elevator, but it was easy to spot him. He was easily the tallest person in the room, and she wasn’t sure how anyone could be so big.

He seemed harmless enough, even if he was too good looking for his own good. Big and awkward in a charming sort of way.

He spotted her and waved her over, a bashful grin on his face.

“I asked the front desk and they recommended a little pasta place around the corner and insisted we get gelato afterward.”

“That sounds great,” she said honestly.

An hour later, stuffed full of pasta and a nice red wine, they were walking back to the hotel eating the best gelato either of them had ever had in their lives. The conversation between them had been easy and lighthearted during dinner, each of them rolling their eyes good naturedly at the rushed wedding but both genuinely glad that their best friends seemed to be thrilled and very much in love.

“I have to admit,” Rey said between bites, “this gelato might have been worth coming all the way to Rome for. Even if I did have to miss work to make the trip.”

“Not eager for a vacation?” he asked, and she shook her head.

“I’m in line for a promotion at the firm, and this wasn’t a good time. I only came because I love Rose more than anyone else in the world.”

He nodded. “No boyfriend then? Or just one that isn’t as amazing as Rose?”

Rey bumped him gently with her shoulder. “No boyfriend. Not anymore. He couldn’t stand my work schedule and unreasonable hours.”

“What is it exactly that you do?” He was looking at her with genuine curiosity, his face lit by moonlight and the faint glow of lights from nearby businesses that lined the cobblestoned streets.

“I’m an architect. You?” she asked, turning her face away before he could catch her staring.

He whistled. “I’m impressed. Nothing so fancy for me. I work for the family business. Real estate.”

“It must be nice, working with family.”

He laughed and shook his head, running his fingers through his hair as he spoke. “Sometimes, I guess. They’re a pain but I’m stuck with them.”

“I’d love to have that,” she said quietly. “Foster care doesn’t really give you those same roots.”

“Damn, Rey. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize,” he looked distressed and miserably embarrassed.

She shrugged but gave him a small, reassuring smile. “It’s ok. I didn’t expect you to know. It’s fine anyway. I have work and I have Rose.”

“That sounds lonely,” he said sadly as they walked into the lobby of the hotel. It was emptier now, and he didn’t have to raise his voice as much to be heard as they headed for the elevator.

She shook her head, “I’m too busy right now for anything else.”

They rode the elevator in companionable silence and stopped together outside her door.

“Thanks for having dinner with me,” he mumbled, “and roaming the streets of Rome with me in the middle of the night.”

“Thanks for inviting me. I had fun,” she said, and was surprised to discover how much she meant it. He had a very direct way of looking at her that made her feel like he could see more of her than she would have chosen to reveal, but there was no room for doubt that he was really listening and paying attention to her.

It was a pleasant feeling.

“I guess I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked. “Hux wanted to do some sightseeing tomorrow, have some fun before the wedding on Saturday.”

A day wasted traipsing around an old city looking at overly crowded tourist attractions wasn’t exactly on top of her list of enjoyable things to do, but there was no way to get out of it. Besides, hanging out with Ben might not be so bad.

“Yeah, I guess you will,” she replied.


	2. A Beta

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I increased the expected chapter count on this from 3 to 5. I swear I have no self control but I hope you enjoy the story!

It had been surprisingly easy to fall asleep after she had returned to her hotel room. It seemed that the long nap hadn’t been enough to completely rid of her of her jet lag after all.

Rey woke to the stream of early morning sunlight through the window and the ceaseless inundation of car horns and loud voices from the street below.

She rolled over and buried her face in the white cotton pillowcase, sure that she could let her mind slip back into the peaceful abyss of sleep if she just tried hard enough. A loud knock at the door and the abrupt remembrance of her obligation to play tourist for a full day brought that hope crashing down.

She groaned loudly. “I’m on a forced vacation,” she shouted through the door, “go away!”

Mortification rolled through her when, instead of Rose’s voice as she expected, a much deeper and less familiar voice answered her rude exclamation.

“Uh, yeah, sorry about that! Rose and Hux wanted me to check on you? It’s time for breakfast, I guess?”

She flung the blanket off and ran to the door, fumbling for several awkward seconds with the unfamiliar lock before yanking it open and babbling an apology.

“I’m sorry! I thought you were Rose. I’m not usually so rude this early in the morning to anyone but my closest personal friends….” She stopped talking as she realized he wasn’t listening to a word of her apology anyway.

He was standing in the doorway of her hotel room with his mouth hanging slightly open and pink spreading rapidly across his cheeks.

He snapped his mouth closed and fixed his eyes firmly on some point just over her right shoulder.

“It’s fine,” he croaked. “See you downstairs for breakfast?” He turned and sped away toward the elevator without waiting for her to answer.

She leaned her head out into the hallway, watching his rapid escape with a puzzled frown.

It wasn’t until she walked into the small bathroom and caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror above the sink that the mortifying pieces fell into place.

She was wearing her oldest and most worn white tank top, her breasts and nipples clearly visible through the threadbare fabric, and a pair of bright orange shorts that she only wore for sleeping because they were so short that they exposed a little bit of ass cheek every time she moved.

It was no wonder that he had reacted as he had. Alphas and Betas weren’t sexually compatible, but it was still indecent to answer the door so scantily dressed. He had been trying so hard to be polite and not embarrass her, but it was absolutely humiliating.

This was not how she had planned to start her first full day in Rome, but she hadn’t been expecting anyone to show up at her door so early. She had jumped to answer without thinking because she had been so embarrassed about mistaking him for Rose.

Now, she was going to have to try and make herself presentable and actually face him again because there was no way to avoid breakfast and sightseeing. Rose would be pounding at her door shortly if she didn’t put in an appearance.

Her cheeks were still flaming fifteen minutes later when Rose waved her down in the lobby, but she was relieved to find no sign of Ben or Hux.

“They’ve already walked over to get us a table for breakfast,” Rose explained when she saw Rey looking around curiously.

“Good idea,” Rey muttered, eyeing her friend suspiciously. If Ben had spilled the details of his early morning eyeful, Rose would already be laughing at her for it. It seemed that he had opted for discretion, which she greatly appreciated.

The streets were already full of people swarming out from the hotel on their way to the day’s activities and it was a relief to step away from the crowd and into the small restaurant where Hux and Ben had already secured them a table.

Hux smiled widely when he spotted his fiancée step through the door, and no one but Rey noticed the way that Ben’s eyes slid away from her in embarrassment.

“Ah, there they are. Lovely ladies are always worth the wait, but we were nearly forced to eat the table cloth!”

Rey grinned in spite of herself. She may not have completely understood the relationship between Alphas and Omegas, but Hux had always been able to make her smile.

And she had to admit that both she and Rose did look quite good today considering the challenges of dressing well on vacation. Rose looked cute in her blue sundress, but Rey had opted to cover as much skin as possible and had dressed in white linen pants and a loose green top with a high neck.

Her conservative attire seemed to work, since Ben relaxed slightly when he finally glanced her way and found her fully dressed.

Rose hurried to the empty chair beside Hux, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and dropping eagerly into her seat. “I’m starving! Can we read any of this?” she asked, picking up a menu and scanning it with a quick frown.

“Nope,” Hux said with a laugh.

Ben cleared his throat, “Rey and I discovered last night that it works well to just point at pretty much anything on the menu. It makes for a nice surprise and everything should be pretty good anyway.”

Rose flicked her a quick, curious glance and Rey smiled tightly. “We were hungry,” she explained with a shrug, “and made a late-night run for pasta and gelato.”

“Sounds like fun,” Hux said, slapping Ben on the back good naturedly. “I’m glad you two are getting along.”

Rey glanced across the table and met Ben’s eyes for the first time, trying her best to express a silent apology. He smiled and shot her a conspiratorial wink. “She’s great,” he assured Hux, “and I’m glad, since it seems like we have a whole day to spend together. What’s on our list of things to see today?”

Rey groaned when Rose reached into her bag and pulled out a fully scheduled itinerary that looked like it covered the entire day and most of the city.

“Hush, you’re going to have a great time!” Rose insisted.

Rey was spared the need to answer when the waitress arrived, and everyone’s attention turned to the struggle of trying to order their breakfast.

Rose proved to be surprisingly right as the day went on, however. The weather in early spring was perfect, warm enough to be outdoors in the morning without being too hot in the afternoon, and everywhere she looked there were vibrantly colored flowers in bloom.

Hux and Rose spent the day wrapped in each other more than the scenery, but he still went out of his way to be friendly and charming to Rey. It softened her attitude toward him to see him try so hard to make her feel welcome and included.

He obviously wanted Rose to be happy and was trying to make sure she felt confident that marriage wouldn’t intrude on her most important friendship.

“He’s a good guy.” Ben’s voice interrupted her musing as she watched Rose and Hux toss bread for pigeons in a crowded plaza. She had done her best to subtly avoid being too close to him most of the day but they had both stayed behind at the small table where their group had stopped to eat dinner, wanting to give the couple some space.

She nodded, “He seems to be. It’s just…”

“I know you have some reservations about them moving so quickly, but he does love her,” Ben said reassuringly when she trailed off in her explanation.

“Does he?” she asked quietly. “Or does he just love the way she smells?”

Ben frowned. “You mean because she’s an Omega?”

She shrugged, looking at him unapologetically. “That’s how it works, isn’t it? Even with blockers and all the precautions. She was hooked on him the moment she scented him, and I don’t think it would have mattered at all even if he hadn’t been a great guy. I think she may have gotten truly lucky and found someone that cares for her beyond the hormones, but I don’t know if I would call it love.”

He sighed deeply, puffing his cheeks out as he did so. “That’s…a lot to speculate, just because he’s an Alpha.”

“It’s not just Alphas,” she assured, feeling suddenly that she had made a mess of things and insulted him. He was an Alpha, too, after all. “It’s just that so much of what happens between Alphas and Omegas seems to be based on physical things that none of you can control. I want someone to love me for who I am, not just because of my scent.”

“So, you’ve never wondered what it would be like to be an Omega?” There was a hint of something in his eyes that she didn’t quite understand, but he looked away quickly after asking the question.

She shook her head at the thought. “I would be terrified if I was an Omega. Any passing Alpha could just disrupt my whole life and I wouldn’t have a choice at all. Don’t you worry about it? What if you get carried away and end up permanently mated but don’t even really like your Omega once the smell and the whole heat thing wear off?”

He laughed. “I have never actually heard of that happening. I mean, most Alphas have mated with Omegas that they didn’t permanently bond with, but a permanent mating seems to always be between very compatible people. Not all Omegas smell the same, you know?”

“They don’t? What do they smell like?” Rose had described Hux’s scent as very intoxicating and the manliest smell that she had ever encountered, but she had never thought to ask about how she perceived other Alphas.

She glanced speculatively at Ben's handsome face and his overly large body. What did Ben smell like to an Omega?

“They all smell good, I guess, but some more than others. Rose smells sort of vaguely like flowers.” He jerked his head to a young blonde sitting a few tables over. “She smells like cinnamon and vanilla.”

“Do you have a preferred scent?” she asked, tipping her head, and looking at him curiously. “Is that a thing I can ask? Is it rude?”

He ran a hand through his hair, “No, it’s fine. I don’t know. I don’t usually respond to the floral smells. It’s probably why I get along well with Hux. We don’t compete for the same mates.”

“Makes sense,” she murmured. “Food smells?” she asked, waving a hand at the blonde.

“Sometimes. Not her though. She’s on strong blockers and isn’t nearing a heat. What about you?” he asked abruptly.

“Me? You all just smell like generic Alpha and Omega to me.”

“No, I mean, how do you choose mates, if you don’t have scents?”

“Oh, poorly I guess,” she admitted with a laugh. “It hasn’t really worked out for me, but I try to date people who are kind and thoughtful.”

“Passionate?” he asked as he watched young couple share a quick kiss before tossing a coin into the fountain at the center of the plaza.

“Passionate about what? Work, hobbies?”

“No, passionate about you,” he explained, turning back to look at her with a startling intensity.

Her lips parted in surprise, but a suddenly flurry of noise and motion announced the arrival of Rose and Hux back at the table and the moment was swept away with his attention.

The happy couple weren’t alone and Rey’s nose was suddenly overwhelmed by Alpha scent.

“This is Poe and Finn!” Rose said excitedly. “They’re staying at the same hotel we are!”

Rey smiled and shook hands warmly with the two young men, unsurprised that Rose had managed to find new friends in a foreign city. Her genuine warmth and enthusiasm for people always attracted the attention of everyone around her.

Poe and Finn seemed friendly enough, especially after a quick subtle scenting of the air around her confirmed her as a Beta. Alphas were always more relaxed around her once they realized she wasn’t a potential candidate for mating.

The two newcomers chatted amicably on the walk back to the hotel. Conversation drifted from talking about the sights they had seen in Rome, to congratulating the bride and groom on the next day’s wedding and making plans to meet up with the group again after the ceremony.

Rey lingered at the back of the group, content to let the others carry the conversation as she watched the sun set over the ancient city. It was undeniably romantic, and for a moment she felt a tug of longing for what might have been. If Beaumont hadn’t left her, if he hadn’t been so threatened by her devotion to her career, this would have made a nice vacation for them.

Ben fell into step next to her and she smiled up at him. His presence helped soothe way her sudden bout of nostalgic loneliness. If she couldn’t enjoy this experience with a lover, it was still going to be a nice memory to cherish of time well spent with her friends, both the old and the new.

He was strangely quiet during the walk and only nodded politely as everyone said goodbye to Finn and Poe in the lobby.

“Tomorrow’s the day,” Rose squealed as the elevator doors opened to their floor. “Everyone go to bed, get plenty of rest, don’t be late!”

Rey laughed as Rose danced happily into her hotel room. “Goodnight,” she called, waving at Hux as he closed the door behind them.

Ben paused at the door to his own room. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then?” he asked.

“Yes, bright and early so I can help Rose get dressed. I’ll, uh, set an alarm this time so you don’t have to wake me.”

“It was the best view I’ve seen in Rome so far,” he said, and a shy grin spread across his face that made her heart skip an impossible beat.

“Oh,” she breathed. “Yes, well, thank you. I guess I’ll just…I’ll see you in the morning then.”

She pushed the door closed behind her and leaned her back against it. Thank god he was an Alpha and she was a Beta. Something about that look he had given her had heat pooling impossibly in her belly and if there had been any chance…Well, she didn’t need that distraction and it was a good thing they weren’t compatible.


	3. An Omega

By the time the sun rose over Rome the next morning, Rey was certain that she had imagined the whole thing.

It was absurd to think Ben might have been flirting with her.

She was a Beta.

She may not have understood much about Alphas, but the one thing she did know, was that they were ruled entirely by their noses and ridiculous mating instincts. He would never consider a Beta suitable for mating, not even for a quick vacation fling.

She certainly wasn't disappointed about that, either. She had more important things to deal with in life. Things like her career and...well her career was definitely more important.

The murmur of familiar voices from the hallway soon let her know she wasn’t the only one who had woken early. Rose was probably already bustling about in a rush to get ready and she should really go and help before everything descended into chaos.

A quick glance in the mirror was enough to reassure her that the light robe she tossed on adequately covered her, but she resolutely refused to do anything to tame her hair, which was falling haphazardly from its messy ponytail, or apply more than a quick coat of tinted lip balm.

It wasn’t like she needed to care about looking nice, she was just going to cross the hall to Rose’s room, after all. She knew Ben was out there, but that shouldn’t matter.

She had no reason to be uncomfortable in his presence or to worry that her sudden and unwelcome attraction to him would ruin her carefully laid career plans.

Holding on to that thought allowed her to almost entirely ignore the tug of arousal that she felt when she opened the door to her room and found him standing with Hux in the hallway.

Her gaze traveled discretely over him, up the impossibly large frame that dominated the small space between their rooms.

The quick look told her that, like her, he wasn’t dressed yet. The white T-shirt that she imagined he had pulled on just so he wouldn’t be wandering the halls in nothing but black pajama pants and bare feet, clung to his broad chest.

She snapped her eyes up to his face, hoping that her reaction to his proximity wasn’t noticeable in her expression, and found him watching her quietly. There was something pensive in his eyes that she couldn’t quite place.

He pushed a hand through his already messy hair, the black waves settling back into place and leaving him looking even more adorably disheveled.

She smiled widely, determined not to acknowledge the strange undercurrent of tension between them, and turned her attention fully to Hux, “Good morning! What’s got everyone meeting in the hallway this early?”

The groom didn’t look even the slightest bit nervous as he shot her a charming grin. “I’ve been run out of the room, threatened with a full list of severe consequences if I see her in her dress before the ceremony, and she’s asking for you.”

Rey laughed, “I’m glad I was already up then. I’ll get her some breakfast and try to settle her down for hair and makeup.”

Hus shook his head, “I’ve already called down and requested room service. Breakfast should be up any minute now. I’m going to go and hide in Ben’s room.” He shook the garment bag that he had slung over his shoulder. “I’ve got the suit and everything in here and I’ll send Ben over if there’s anything I’ve forgotten. Please try and convince her that everything is going to be fine.”

“I’ll try,” Rey said with an uncertain shrug. “She just wants today to turn out really well. The start of a life together should be a good day, you know?”

“Any day with her in it, is a good day. The day she marries me? That’s the best day of my life, even if everything else goes wrong.”

Tears misted her eyes and she looked wistfully at Ben when he clapped Hux on the back and said, “Come on, you lucky bastard. Let’s go get you ready to get married.”

Hux winked at her as Ben tugged him down the hall and she giggled.

The sight of Rose’s beaming, excited face when she answered Rey’s knock was enough to make her tear up again. If anyone deserved a man that was in love with her as Hux seemed to be, it was Rose.

“I’ve come to help,” Rey announced, walking in and plopping down in a chair by the window. “Everything is going to be fine. It’s a beautiful day and you are marrying a wonderful man who loves you.”

Rose laughed and pulled her in for a hug that was just a bit too tight. “He does love me. I just want everything to be perfect for him today.”

“I encountered your very smitten fiancé in the hallway, and he is completely over the moon in love with you. You could show up for the wedding wearing a trash bag and he wouldn’t even notice.”

Rose smiled but she still looked skeptical. Not that Rey blamed her, of course. If she ever _did_ get married, she would want it to be a perfect day.

The quick unbidden image of dark hair and a pair of serious eyes flashed through her mind, and she pushed it away with a frown.

She was a Beta, she reminded herself firmly. She was safe from that temptation and distraction.

A soft knock at the door announced the arrival of room service and after a quick breakfast of fresh fruit and hot coffee, Rey was able to get Rose calmed down and they laughed their way through hair and makeup.

It didn’t take long, Rose wanted simple makeup and both of them were wearing their hair down, and Rey soon found herself back in her own room, slipping into the dress Rose had chosen for her to wear for the ceremony.

Rey quickly added her best friend’s excellent fashion sense to her list of things that she would be forever grateful for. She wouldn’t be spending the wedding in some ugly concoction with ruffles and puffed sleeves. 

Tea length and elegant, Rey's dark blue gown hugged her curves and enhanced the hazel of her eyes.

She stepped into her shoes, low heels that wouldn’t make walking around the city too much of a nightmare, and opened the door just in time to run into Ben as he was exiting Rose’s room.

“We keep running into each other,” he muttered softly, using one large hand to steady her as she wobbled from the impact.

“I’m sorry,” Rey said breathlessly, taking a quick step back and peering up at him. “I’m usually much better at watching where I’m going. Is everything ok?”

He held a pair of men's dress shoes up, “Hux forgot to grab these from the room this morning and promised Rose he’d send me if he needed anything.”

“She’s superstitious about him seeing her in the dress,” Rey confirmed.

“Are you?” he asked. “Superstitious?”

“No,” Rey said firmly, swallowing hard. There was something suggestive in his voice that made her defensive. “I don’t believe in bad luck.”

His lip twitched a bit at the sternness of her tone. “No bad luck? What about good luck? Fate? Don’t you believe that sometimes things happen for a reason?”

“Do you?” she shot back quickly.

“Absolutely,” he said with a grin. “There’s so much in the world that’s unexplained. I like to think that I’ll get what I need when I need it.”

She snorted. “You get what you work for. At least most of us do anyway. Anyone who thinks otherwise has had a few too many things handed to them in life.”

His face changed immediately, a shuttered expression replacing the open and teasing look he had been giving her a moment before.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have a family that could easily satisfy all of my needs, and even my wants, but it comes with its own set of obligations and challenges,” he said, and turned to go without waiting for a response.

“Ben,” she called, taking several quick steps to wrap her hand around his arm. “Please wait. I didn’t mean anything negative about you. I just…I had to work for everything, and I’ve never had a real family. I don’t understand the type of challenges that come from having all of that, just the ones that come from never having it.”

He looked down at her patiently and gave her fingers on his arm a quick squeeze. “You have a family. Rose is your family, and now Hux.”

He paused for a moment to let the implications of his words settle over her. “Hux means a great deal to me, more in many ways than the family I was born into, so I understand the importance of having family that you have chosen for yourself. I guess that means you get me, too, since my chosen family is marrying yours. That all sounds like fate to me.”

He left her standing in the hallway, thinking hard about what he had said. He was clearly wrong about the superstitions, but he was right about the family.

She had worked very hard in her life, in her career, and she had seen the benefits of that work. How far would she have gotten, though, how much would she have achieved without Rose to support her?

He was right, Rose had been her family since the day they met.

The conversation lingered in her mind as she helped Rose change into her own dress and as they made the short trip to the small church where the ceremony was supposed to take place.

She listened sadly as Rose described the difficulty of planning a wedding so far from home and how much help her event planner had been in finding them a church and a cleric who spoke fluent English. The paperwork alone seemed to have been quite complicated and Rey was struck hard by the realization that she had done very little to help, or even be properly supportive, during Rose’s weeks of planning.

She had excused it in her mind for so many reasons. She had been so busy with work, or her reservations about the relationship dynamics between Alphas and Omegas, or the wedding bringing up so many feelings about her own failed relationship that she hadn’t wanted to face, but Rose deserved more from her, even if she had never pressed for it.

Rose babbled happily all the way to the church, her enthusiasm undampened by traffic or Rey's quiet responses.

By the time they arrived, Hux and Ben were waiting for them.

She left Rose to wait and scurried to meet them as they stood patiently near the altar, both looking remarkably handsome in fitted back suits with white shirts and black ties. 

The priest greeted her with a warm smile but there was no time for more than a quick handshake before the music signaling Rose’s entrance began to play.

Rey quickly took her place across from Ben and they both smiled at the expression of awe on Hux’s face when Rose began her solitary walk down the aisle.

His reaction was perfectly understandable, since Rey thought his bride was breathtaking in a white lace gown that fit tightly in the bodice and flared gently at the hip. The afternoon sunlight pouring in the ancient stained-glass windows danced with colored light and shadows across her face as she approached, and her smile was bright and full of love.

She clearly had eyes for no one but her groom, and Rey suddenly realized how right she had been to want only a small and intimate ceremony. It wouldn’t have seemed right to have too many people watching them as they gazed at each other with such vulnerability and emotion.

The vows the couple exchanged were simple and traditional, but Rey couldn’t stop the tear that slid down her cheek as they promised to love each other for the rest of their lives. Ben smiled at her when he caught her dabbing at the corner of her eye, and she sniffled softly. He hardly had room to judge when he looked a little misty eyed himself.

The ceremony was a touching celebration and as they all filed out of the church Rey was immeasurably glad that she had come. The looming promotion and work deadlines seemed suddenly less important than they had for so many years.

She had given so much of her time and attention to her work that the person she loved most in the world had been forced to practically drag her away from the office to even be here for this wedding.

It was incredibly selfish of her not to have seen how important it was to Rose that she be here. Maybe Beaumont had been right, and she did spend too much time focusing on the wrong things in life.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a haze of celebration as Rose drug them all back to the hotel to change and then back out into the streets to see more of the city. They met Finn and Poe for dinner and Rey tried to keep up a happy demeanor as everyone laughed and drank too much wine.

“Are you alright? You’ve been quiet today,” Ben whispered in her ear as they walked out of the restaurant and into the glare of the streetlights beneath a dark sky. The sun had set while they ate, and night had fallen over the ancient city.

She shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about what you said earlier, about Rose being my family. You were right and I haven’t done enough for her or supported her like I should have. I’ve given everything to my job and now I feel like maybe I shouldn’t have done that.”

She fell into step beside him, not noticing the careful way he placed himself between her and the other Alphas in the group.

“You love your job,” he responded quietly. “Knowing Rose is your family and there are people who love you doesn’t mean that your career isn’t important, too. I spend way too much time pouring my energy into my family’s business but Hux still tolerates me.”

Rey shook her head, turning her face away before he noticed the tears gathering in her eyes. She had done too much crying already today. “I’ve already lost someone I care about because I prioritized work over him. I couldn’t stand it if I lost Rose, too. I’ve been telling myself that it doesn’t matter, and he was wrong, but what if he wasn’t?”

“He was,” Ben said firmly, “if he expected you to have him instead of your dreams. There is room in your life for both, at least there is if you love someone enough to make the time. You’re here when Rose needed you and that’s proof that you know how to prioritize people when they really matter.”

“Maybe,” she conceded. Had the problem with Beaumont been that she simply hadn’t loved him enough to make the time for him?

She sighed and glanced up at Ben. He had certainly given her a lot to think about today. She couldn’t recall the last time anyone had forced her to examine her life and her choices so thoroughly and with so little effort.

He pulled vulnerability from her so easily. Maybe it was the direct way he framed his questions, or the intense look in his eyes when he listened to her answers.

She watched him run a hand through his hair and had to resist the urge to sink her own fingers into it. Like everything else about him, it looked so soft and inviting.

“Care to join them?” he asked suddenly and gestured to where Rose and Hux were now swaying softly to the sound of music spilling into the night from a nearby business. Finn and Poe had each grabbed a passing tourist for a partner and joined in, creating an impromptu dance floor in the crowded public square.

“They look like they’re having a great time,” Rey observed, “but I think I’m going to sit this one out. It’s been a long day.” It was true, it had been, but she wasn’t sure that being held so closely to him and dancing under the stars in one of the most romantic places in the world was such a good idea.

She was a Beta, she reminded herself again as she sat on the edge of a fountain, watching the water as it spilled out endlessly from the statues into the pool beneath. She glanced up in surprise when he sat down next to her instead of following the lead of the others and asking a passing Omega to dance instead. He was certainly handsome enough to have his choice of partners.

“Do you know what fountain this is?” he asked.

“No? Should I?”

“Everyone who comes to Rome should know this fountain. It’s famous. That’s Venus, the goddess of love,” he explained, pointing to the largest statue, one that depicted a beautiful young woman. She was nude and smiling softly, like she knew a secret that no one else could ever guess.

“We’ve seen countless beautiful statues, why is this one famous?” Rey asked, looking back to find him staring at her.

“It’s rumored that Venus herself blessed this fountain and that anyone who takes a coin from the water will get whatever they need to find true and lasting love. People come from all over the world to pull out coins, and those who are newly in love come to toss in coins and pass along their good fortune.”

“That’s a sweet story, but I don’t believe in luck or magic, remember? And I certainly don’t think I need to fall in love.” Rey shrugged as she spoke, but she couldn’t resist the urge to glance over her shoulder at Venus’ smile.

“If you don’t believe in magic, then what’s the harm in taking one? It would make a great souvenir from your trip,” he suggested. There was something in his tone, an undercurrent that sounded like a dare.

She didn’t respond, and instead reached her hand into the water, determined to show him that she wasn’t afraid of some silly mystical story, and pulled out a silver coin.

He peered down at it. “That actually looks pretty old,” he remarked. “You must have gotten lucky.”

She dropped it into the pocket of her dress, tipping her chin up in challenge. “I doubt that, or that it will bring me any sort of luck at all, but we’ll see.”

“I suppose we will,” he murmured quietly, turning to smile at Rose as she beckoned them to rejoin the group on their way back to the hotel.

Rey watched Ben as discreetly as possible as they left the fountain, she knew he was waiting for her to rush back and return the coin, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of proving she was superstitious after all.

She fiddled with the coin in her pocket as they walked and more than once, she caught him watching her with a small smile on his face.

The first thing she did when she was finally alone in her hotel room was remove it from her pocket and place it carefully on her bedside table so she wouldn’t lose it. Not that she was worried, of course, but if it really was old maybe she should return it instead of taking it home.

It was the last thing she thought about it before she drifted off to sleep.

She woke several hours later feeling ill and uncomfortable. Her skin was hot and sticky with sweat and her stomach was cramping, twisting with an unfamiliar ache.

A quick glance at the bedside clock told her it was only 4 am, but she knew it would be impossible to fall back asleep in her current state.

After a few minutes of fruitless writhing that did nothing to alleviate her discomfort she stumbled to the bathroom and turned the shower on, letting the cold water run over her overheated skin. It was soothing but it did nothing to help the pain in her stomach.

It seemed suddenly as though she was empty, like a hole had been carved in her that was desperate to be filled.

Perhaps she was only oddly and unaccountably hungry? She had never experienced hunger pangs this intense, but it was the only explanation that even remotely made sense.

She waited by the window, rocking softly to comfort herself as the feelings inside her grew more intense, until the sun began to creep over the horizon and it seemed like it was finally a decent time to request someone send up a room service breakfast.

It was 6:30 before it arrived, and by then she was once again drenched in sweat and nearly doubled over from pain. She smiled thinly at the young girl who delivered the tray, waiting only moments after the door closed behind her before beginning to shove food into her mouth with shaking fingers.

She ate everything and still the pain remained.

She clearly needed help, but she hesitated at the idea of disturbing Rose. Last night had been her wedding night and being awakened this early was almost certainly going to be an unwelcome intrusion.

Where else could she go?

Ben, she realized suddenly. He would help her. She was certain of it.

She paused at the door, waiting as a set of unfamiliar male voices passed her door.

“Smells like someone forgot to pack their blockers. Hotel security is going to have a fun time with that if they don’t get it under control soon,” the first voice said with a laugh.

“You’re only laughing because you’re already mated. That’s going to trigger a few ruts and have Alphas fighting it out in the hallways,” the second responded angrily. “Maybe I should just knock and…”

“Oh no,” the first voice cut in. “You’ll be right in there fighting with the others if we don’t get you the hell out of here.”

The voices trailed off as the men walked away. She assumed they were heading for the elevators, so there wouldn’t be any fighting, at least not right now.

How irresponsible could an Omega be? To go into heat in such a public place with no blockers and no mate was dangerous for everyone involved.

She knew it wasn’t Rose, since she was part of a scent mated pair, but it must be someone close by.

Rey sighed as she pulled the door open and stepped cautiously into the empty hallway.

A pile of fighting, aggressive Alphas was the last thing she needed to deal with on top of suddenly being so ill.

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and knocked loudly on Ben’s door.

There was a string of confused cursing and the sound of a someone stumbling around before the door finally opened. Ben stood in the doorway, bare chested and frowning, for only a few seconds before his eyes widened at the sight of her.

She was barely dressed, flushed, sweaty, and clutching her abdomen in pain.

“Please, I need help,” she panted.

“What happened?” he began, reaching for her arm. He froze when his fingers made contact with the unusual warmth of her skin and his nostrils flared as the scent of her finally registered in his sleep fogged mind.

‘I don’t know what happened. I thought I was just hungry but now I think maybe I’m actually sick. Maybe its my appendix or something,” she answered, tipping her head to look at him in confusion.

“Get in this room right now,” he demanded, using a commanding tone that she had never heard from him before.

She obeyed without thinking, stepping inside quickly and watching curiously as he shut the door and bolted it closed behind him.

She started to ask him what was wrong, but the question died on her lips as she breathed in the scent of his room. The smell of something overwhelming and primal and _intoxicating_ assaulted her senses with each breath and she let her eyes drift closed on a pleased little moan.

They flew open again in humiliation when something hot and sticky flooded between her legs.

“What the hell?’ she stammered indignantly, staring in horror at her own body.

“It’s slick. You’re going into heat,” he explained, looking at her with a stricken expression. His fists were clenched at his sides and his eyes were wild.

“I am _not_ in heat,” she retorted, clenching her thighs together as each breath brought another rush of warm wetness between her legs and another cramp to tear through her body.

“The hell you aren’t! I can smell you, Omega!”


	4. A Challenge

“Go sit down somewhere while I figure out what to do,” he told her sharply, taking several steps back and turning away from her before letting out a shuddering sigh. 

She wanted to argue, to refute his rudeness and the unwarranted use of a designation that she had no claim to, but found herself ignoring all of that to follow his orders.

She wanted to make him happy, she realized with a frown. Wanted to far more than was reasonable or logical. If she made him happy, she was somehow sure he would take care of her. With him to protect her, she would be safe and happy.

She curled up in a chair beside the window and watched as he paced restlessly, running his fingers through his hair in his obvious frustration.

The muscles in his back rippled beneath the skin with the motion and she was horrified to hear herself make a sound that sounded very much like a desperate whine. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but he had already heard her.

“Please, don’t make that noise,” he begged. “God, I can’t take this. The smell of you is getting stronger. I’ll just…I’ll get help. Someone…Rose. I’ll get Rose.”

He walked out without looking at her and she was almost certain she heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded like, “While I still can,” but she had no idea what he could have meant by that.

She glanced around the empty room, taking in the neatness of her surroundings. The bed was unmade, but from way his belongs were neatly tucked into their proper places she assumed that it was only because he hadn’t had time to make it since he answered her knock at the door.

The only other thing in the room that was out of place was the suit jacket that he had worn for the wedding yesterday, which he had forgotten and left draped over the back of the chair that she was sitting in.

A quick sniff told her that the smell that had overwhelmed her senses when she had first stepped into his room- an incredible combination that reminded her of old books, hot tea, and the earth after a soft spring rain- was emanating strongly from the carefully laid black material.

It made her want to settle down and stay forever in the comfort of home.

She breathed it in, squeezing her thighs together against another surge of impossible wetness, and gave in to the urge to rub her cheek against the fabric. She tugged the jacket into her lap, wrapping it around her as the smell and the pleasure of it rubbing against her exposed skin began to ease the tension in her stomach.

When Ben returned a few minutes later, looking flushed and defeated, he found her nestled in his chair and wearing his suit jacket. It was much too large, and the sleeves hung well past her hands, but the extra room had allowed her to pull her knees up to her chest and nearly envelope her entire body.

He stopped just inside the doorway, eyes wide and staring. “Are you nesting? In my clothes?”

“Of course not,” she snapped. “I just…” Her voice trailed away. She didn’t have an explanation.

“It just smelled good,” he finished for her. “You are nesting. You...are…in…heat.”

“I can’t be! I’m a Beta!” She spat it at him angrily, clinging to her status as an ordinary person whose live decisions wouldn’t be ruled by scents and hormones that were out of her control.

“Not anymore,” he insisted. “I can’t find Hux or Rose, so you’ll have to stay here for now. I can’t send you back to your own room. It’s not safe. At least here my scent provides you some cover. Other Alphas will be more reluctant to pursue your scent if it’s mingled with a potential mate.”

The color drained from her face. “Potential mate? I don’t need a mate! I…”

“Enough,” he told her, interrupting her panicked outburst and bringing her to a stunned silence. “Do you think I would force you into anything against your will? I’m an Alpha, not a monster.”

She considered everything that she knew about him, the gentle and thoughtful way that he had behaved toward her every time they had been together, and her body relaxed.

“No, I don’t think you would,” she admitted. “I just can’t believe this is happening. I never wanted this.”

His eyes were sad as he looked at her, “I know. I’m sorry.”

She winced as another ache shot through her.

“Is there anything I can do help make you more comfortable until Rose gets back from wherever they’ve gone?” he asked, watching her nervously as she rocked gently in her chair.

She shrugged, answering him through gritted teeth, “I don’t know. You seem to know more about all of this than I do. What would you suggest?”

He sighed, and walked over to her chair, scooping her up into his arms like an overly petulant child.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked.

“Helping,” he told her softly, dropping her gently on the bed and sitting down beside her before he wrapped her in his blankets, enclosing her even more in what she was coming to realize was his scent. “You’re nesting, so this will help make you more comfortable for now.”

“For now?”

“It won’t be enough, not for a whole heat. Rose is going to have to find you some kind of suppressant…probably a few, uh, _intimate_ toys to help you through your time. I’m not entirely sure what all is needed for an Omega to get through a heat alone or I would go and get it for you myself. Opinion on the internet is mixed and not much help.”

“You googled it for me?” she asked incredulously.

“In the hallway,” he confirmed. “I was trying to avoid coming back in here.”

“Why?”

He looked away, focusing on something outside the window and swallowed hard. “I’ve never smelled anything quite like you.”

“What do I smell like?” she asked quietly.

“Freshly cut wood, raw honey warmed in the summer sunshine, oranges…every bright and happy thing I have ever loved.”

“Oh,” she whispered.

He dropped his head into his hands. “I’ve been waiting my whole life to smell something like you,” he admitted.

“Ben, I’m so sorry. I don’t understand what any of this means or how it works. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

He shook his head, finally looking at her with a carefully controlled expression. “You aren’t _supposed_ to do anything. You’ll get some suppressants and Rose will help you learn how to handle being an Omega. Maybe you’ll find a mate and maybe you won’t, but it’ll be up to you how you want to handle that.”

She frowned at him skeptically, biting down softly on her bottom lip. “You aren’t going to try and convince me to mate with _you_? That’s what Alphas do, right?”

He hesitated, obviously carefully considering his words before speaking, “The urge to mate can be very strong, and it is easy to get caught up in that, but I’ve never met an Alpha that wanted an unwilling mate. You’ve been very clear about how you feel about Alphas. I’m not going to pressure you for anything.”

His hands were resting on his thighs and his fists were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white, but his face was calm and sincere.

She was oddly disappointed at how well he was controlling himself. Part of her was grateful, she needed time to think and understand everything that was changing, but part of her…well she wasn’t sure what she wanted but she knew this stoic detachment wasn’t it.

She laid her hand on his arm and he flinched beneath her touch. “Ben, I…”

A loud knock interrupted her before she could decide what she wanted to say, and he jumped to his feet, nearly running to the door.

She didn’t follow him, staying cozily wrapped in his blankets as he briefly explained the situation to Rose and Hux in the hallway.

When the door opened again minutes later, all of three of them stepped back into the room. Rose rushed to her side as Hux stayed with Ben near the door, talking in hushed voices that she couldn’t quite understand.

“Are you ok?” Rose gushed, pressing a hand to Rey’s overly warm forehead. “Ugh, you’re hot and sweaty. You smell terrible.”

“Ben doesn’t think I smell terrible,” Rey mumbled. “What are they talking about over there?”

Rose glanced over her shoulder with a worried look. “Hux is trying to convince Ben to let you move back to your own room. It isn’t terribly safe to leave you alone, but it isn’t terribly safe to leave you here either.”

Rey frowned, eyes narrowing dangerously. “Ben won’t hurt me. He wouldn’t do anything to me without my permission.”

“I know,” Rose agreed, “but he wouldn’t have to. This is just the beginning of your heat. In a few hours, you would be begging him to mate with you. He thinks he can resist the temptation but I’ve seen the way he looked at you when you were a Beta, and there’s no way he would make it through a whole heat with you begging to be knotted and not give in.”

“What is that supposed to mean? How did he look at me when I was a Beta?” Rey demanded, but question went unanswered as Ben’s voice grew louder from the other side of the room.

“She can stay if she wants to stay!” he was insisting, waving his hand wildly at the bed where she was sitting. “Does she look frightened to you?”

“No,” Hux shot back, “She looks like she’s nesting. She looks like she followed her nose to the first appealing scent she encountered once the heat set in. I’ve never heard of a heat coming on this quickly, she had no time to prepare or learn anything. She’s already more than halfway to letting you have her and she doesn’t even realize it.”

He shook his head when Ben didn’t answer and only continued to stare at him stoically. “You have to let her go, Ben, it isn’t fair to claim her when she’s never even had a chance to experience anything beyond you.”

Rey’s eyes widened in surprise when Ben let out a noise that sounded remarkably like a growl. “She isn’t safe out there.”

“Those are your own protective instincts talking. You said yourself that you’ve never been this effected by an Omega. You’ll never be able to make it through her heat with her here.” Hux said it gently, but his voice was firm.

Ben turned to face her, his eyes locking on hers. She could see the conflict, knew it was tearing him apart.

_Stay with the Alpha_

The thought sprang unbidden into her mind and she recoiled from it.

He must have seen it, the sudden flicker of revulsion on her face, because his own crumpled with disappointment. Her heart ached for him, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn’t stay here and risk being tied forever in a relationship she wasn’t even sure she wanted.

“Then get out,” he said softly, earning him a soft gasp of surprise from Rose. “Go, take her now if she’s going leave.”

Rose helped her to her feet, and she walked cautiously to the door, watching him with concerned eyes. He didn’t look at her as she passed, but she could clearly see every muscle in his body trembling with the effort it took for him to let her go.

It was only when she reached her own room again that she realized she was still wearing his jacket and wrapped in his blankets. She crawled into her own bed and buried her face in the fabric, suddenly bereft as the scent of him faded to only what lingered on the soft cotton.

“I’ll be back,” Rose assured her from near the door. “Try and get some sleep.”

Rey tossed and turned for more than hour, but sleep eluded her. Each passing minute made her skin feel hotter and her body was aching for relief. The vague, empty discomfort that she had felt in her stomach had morphed into a distinctly sexual need that let her panting and while she knew that Ben’s scent was only making it worse she couldn’t bring herself to let go of the materials she had stolen from him.

When it finally became too much, she finally stripped off her own clothing and wrapped his blankets around her, rubbing his scent on every inch of her skin compulsively as she struggled to find a position in the bed that would allow her to finally rest.

She finally groaned in frustration, giving up on sleep, just as a loud knock heralded Rose’s return.

Rey popped her head out of the blanket pile and gave Rose a desperate look. “Did you figure out a way to fix this?”

Rose shook her head. “There is no way to fix it. You’re an Omega now and that’s just how it is. I did manage to get some emergency suppressants, it’s too late for it stop your heat but the guy at the front desk said it might make it more tolerable if you start taking it now.”

“I don’t think it will be even a little bit tolerable if it gets any worse than this.” Rey groused, taking the pill bottle and shaking a small pink tablet into the palm of her hand. “What’s in the bag?” she asked after swallowing the pill, nodding her head pointedly at the package in Rose’s left hand.

Rose blushed. “If you’re not going to find an Alpha, you’ll need some way to satisfy your mating urges. I had the terribly embarrassed hotel staff make a discreet shopping trip to get you a few options. Normally this would all be far less embarrassing since presenting is a much slower process that let’s an Omega get things in order before her first heat, but yours came on so fast…it’s just so unusual.”

Rey nodded dully. “If I remember right your heats only last a day or two, so luckily all of this will be behind me by the time we need to fly home.”

Rose shook her head sadly. “That’s with preemptive doses of suppressants. It’s going to be more like three or four days for you.”

“What about the hotel? The flight tickets? Nobody is going to let me travel during a heat!”

“Ben’s already taken care of it. He extended our reservations and notified the airline. Worked some of that magic that comes from having a family with old money and got everything fixed up for you. All you have to do is let your job know that you’ll be out a few extra days.”

“My job,” Rey groaned.

Rose handed her the phone. “You’ll need to take care of it now, before you get worse. You won’t even want to speak to me in an hour or two.”

Rey stood up, blankets clutched tightly about her but still falling off her shoulders, as the phone began to ring. She shrugged helplessly at Rose’s quickly whispered, “Are you seriously _naked_ under there?” and walked into the bathroom so she could talk to her boss more privately.

She expected him to be understanding. This was the first vacation she had taken in years and her delay was only due to an unforeseen medical emergency, after all, but his voice was terse and demanding. He was increasingly insistent that she find _some way_ to get back to the office on time. He didn’t have the patience, he informed her, to deal with her _Omega_ _problems_ or her _lazy attitude_.

The last part hurt, especially after so many years of working herself to the bone for him.

“I can’t travel, they won’t let me, and it isn’t safe for anyone if I try. I’ll work more overtime to make up for it as soon as I can get back,” she promised.

“Don’t bother,” he told her tersely. “If you can’t be dependable and be in the office when you are supposed to be here, we don’t need you. You’re fired.”

Rey stared at the phone in numb disbelief after he hung up on her. Everything she had worked for had come crashing down in an instant. A small sob broke from her chest and she sank slowly to the floor.

Rose peered into the small bathroom, a look of concern on her face. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

Rey shook her head, looking up at her friend with tears in her eyes. “He fired me,” she explained between deeping shuddering breaths. “For not being able to return to work on schedule.”

“That’s bullshit! He can’t do that! It’s illegal to discriminate against Omegas in the workplace or to deny them time off during a heat cycle,” Rose fumed.

“I know I can get him for that, but it won’t give me my job back! Oh, everything is ruined now,” Rey cried, turning her body into Rose’s hug as she wept tears of hurt and confusion into Ben’s blankets.

She cried until she ran out of tears and then she allowed Rose to talk her into taking a shower while she ran down to grab something to eat for lunch. Rey made her promise to leave Ben’s blankets on the bed on her way out and then stepped beneath the spray of cold water.

It cooled her skin and but less than it had that morning and despite being emotionally drained, the ache between her thighs was getting worse. Rose was right, soon there wouldn’t be anything that would help with the reactions of traitorous body.

One horrible morning had changed everything in her life.

And it was going to get worse, she realized, stepping out of the bathroom wrapped in nothing but a towel to find that Rose had returned and was now standing in the open doorway to her room arguing passionately with two familiar voices.

“We just want to come in and say hello,” Poe was saying. “We aren’t going to hurt her. She can say hello, can’t she?”

“No, she can’t. She’s not ready to be bombarded by Alphas. Go back to your own room.”

“That’s not very nice, Rose. You were so nice before,” Finn pouted.

Rey heard another door open and Hux’s voice, firmer than she had ever heard it, answered them before Rose could speak again. “You heard my wife. Rey isn’t feeling up to visitors right now.”

“She doesn’t belong to you. She’s not your Omega and you can’t keep her hidden away like this.”

“She’s mine,” another voice said firmly. It was Ben, she knew. Hux must have still been in his room before they heard the commotion.

_My Alpha_

She ignored the thought, but quickly wrapped herself in his blankets as she stepped closer to the door, listening carefully as he continued.

“Rey’s not available, for mating or otherwise. You need to leave and not come back.”

She heard them shuffle back a few steps and knew he must have advanced toward them. They were trying to be brave, but Ben was an imposing presence at the best of times. She couldn’t imagine what he must look like now, her Alpha staring down his competition.

She shivered at the thought.

“Where’s your proof? She doesn’t smell like she’s been claimed,” Poe sneered.

Rey stepped into the doorway, clearly clinging to nesting materials that carried Ben’s scent.

Finn and Poe stared at her for a moment, torn between their urge to mate and the fact that they were outnumbered.

Finding her with another Alpha's scent clinging to her skin had obviously not been part of their plan, and after a moment they turned away reluctantly and walked to the elevator.

Rey turned to thank Ben, breathing deeply of the scent that washed over her again now that he was so close, but he had already turned away. She watched sadly as he disappeared into his own room and shut the door.

“That was close,” Hux sighed. “If they had stayed any longer, we would have had an ugly fight.”

“Would he have fought for me?” Rey asked, unsure if she was horrified or comforted by the thought.

“Absolutely,” he told her, “Without hesitation. I’ve never seen him like this. I’m going to take him out for a few hours, give him a break from your scent and let those suppressants start to work if possible. The hotel is booked, or we would have just moved his room to a different floor until his flight tomorrow.”

“He’s leaving tomorrow?”


	5. A Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, but I am increasing the expected chapter count by two. One to split this chapter to a manageable length and one for an epilogue idea that I had. I have no self control and stories are 100% always going to be longer than my original plan. 
> 
> Please note that I am updating the tags to include masterbation, idk if that would be an issue for anyone but it's better to be safe than sorry. 
> 
> I am going to finish this one before updating anything else so I can add other, longer projects into my writing rotation, so please know if you are reading any of my other WIPs that I have not abandoned them and updates are coming!
> 
> Other than that, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I am very appreciative of all your comments and will be replying tomorrow!

Rose closed the heavy curtains and made her promise to stay inside her room before they left her alone. They had given her advice, support, and medication. There was simply nothing else that they could do to help her.

The rest of it she would have to deal with on her own, and she was determined to make it through without embarrassing herself any further than she already had.

As the minutes ticked by, she became more and more grateful that Ben wasn’t in his room next door. As her heat grew stronger, the urge to find the source of his scent and put an end to her suffering grew with it.

Instead, she moved restlessly in the shadows of her room, spending as much time as she could beneath the cold shower spray before her desires drug her back to the bed and the nest she felt so foolish for needing.

She had been tempted many times to dig into the bag Rose brought her, or to at try to find some relief with her fingers, but she was terribly afraid that once she started she would never be able to stop.

Giving into the urges, even in such a simple way, was to accept her new designation and with it an uncertain future.

So, she gritted her teeth, and stared at the clock, and waited.

It was hours before he returned to the hotel after leaving with Hux, and by then she was whimpering with need and her thighs were coated with slick. Her breath was coming in ragged puffs, each ending in a small frustrated moan.

Her head jerked up when she heard the door to his room close quietly. She hadn’t heard footsteps in the hallway. He must have been trying to sneak past without alerting her to his presence.

_My Alpha_

The thought sent a shiver down her spine and a fresh coating of slick dripping down her thighs. He was so close and if she went to him, he would take her. She knew he would, she wouldn’t even have to beg, though she was suddenly more than willing. His proximity drove all of her fears and her stubborn promises to herself out of mind like they never existed to begin with.

She shook her head roughly, pushing back against the hormone driven thoughts and letting out a groan of frustration.

“Rey?”

She froze at the muffled sound of his voice. It sounded almost as though he was in the bed with her. When understanding bloomed, she scrambled to her knees and pressed her ear to the wall behind her headboard.

“Rey can you hear me? Are you alright?” There was a tension in his voice that bordered on fear. He must have heard her groan through the wall and gotten worried.

This might be the only chance she had to talk to him before he left. The thought was suddenly more terrifying than the knowledge that any contact with him was inviting a dangerous temptation.

She paused for only a moment before abandoning all caution. She needed to hear more of his voice.

“I don’t know,” she told him honestly, hoping she was speaking loudly enough for him to hear.

“Do you need help? Should I get Rose?”

“No! I’m just…I’m so uncomfortable,” she confessed in a rush. “Everything hurts and it’s so hot. I took off all my clothes hours ago and I’ve been standing in cold showers most of the day and it’s still hot. Nothing helps the aching except rubbing all over the blankets that smell like you and I want so much more of…of something but I’m too scared to do anything and I…” the stream of babbling stopped on a small sob.

There was a thump from the other side of the wall, like Ben had pounded on it softly with his fist. “You’re uncomfortable because you need to come. An orgasm is the only thing that is going to make you feel better. You just have to let go and give your body what it needs right now.”

“I’m scared. I don’t like not being in control of myself,” she admitted finally.

He was quiet for so long that she started to think he hadn’t heard her before he finally spoke. “Do you trust me enough to let me help you? I won’t touch you. I promise.”

“I trust you,” she said without hesitation.

“Since you can’t be in control of yourself, I want you to relax and just do what I tell you. Imagine, just for now, that I’m not just some Alpha in the room next door. Imagine I’m _your_ Alpha and I’m going to take care of you. Can you do that, Omega? Can you pretend?”

_My Alpha_

Her heart beat faster and she drug in a ragged breath. She wasn’t committing to anything this way. All he was going to do was help her through a difficult time. “Yes, I can do that.”

“Good. Have your ever touched yourself before? Do you know how to make yourself come?” His voice was strained but she could hear the steely thread of determination.

“Sometimes, but not often so I’m not very good at it. Sex wasn’t really an important part of my life or previous relationship.” A quick image of Beaumont’s face drifted through her mind. He’s be so disappointed to see her like this.

“I really hate that guy,” Ben bit out, making her giggle helplessly at the venom in his tone. “Ok, we’ll start from the beginning then. Just touch yourself anywhere that feels good and try to relax.”

She gave herself without question to the command in his voice, letting her fingers drift softly over the impossibly sensitive skin of her stomach and her thighs.

“How is that?” he asked patiently.

“My body has never felt like this before,” she told him. “Everything is different now.”

“Your heat is made to give you pleasure,” he explained. “Try touching your nipples, see how good that feels.”

She ran over hands over her breasts, crying out at the sensations that shot through her at the slightest touch.

“God, Omega, you’re doing so well,” he praised, and she whined in response. She could hear him breathing heavily as he waited for her to answer him.

_I made my Alpha happy_

The voice inside her purred, and this time, she had no desire to disagree. Making him happy felt good, even more than the pleasure that was rapidly building in her body.

“I want to come now,” she panted, a pleading note in her voice that would have humiliated her only a few hours ago. “I need to.”

“Yes,” he agreed quickly, “use your hands. Fill your little cunt with your fingers.”

Her body was dripping with slick and her fingers slid inside easily. She clamped down hard, relieved to finally have something to fill her, even if it wasn’t nearly enough to fully satisfy.

“Use your fingers to stretch you open,” he told her,” imagine that’s my cock. I’m going to give you everything you need, take care of you. Fill your tight little body with my knot and keep you screaming your pleasure the whole time you’re in heat.”

Rey dropped her forehead against the wall, muscles shaking as she pumped her fingers, now hot and drenched as she edged closer to release. “Alpha, please,” she begged, “I don’t want to come by myself.”

“You won’t,” he promised, his voice gruff and heavy, and she realized he must be doing the same thing on the other side of the wall. The thought of him so close to her, his cock wrapped in his massive fist and chasing his won orgasm to nothing but the sound of her voice and her lingering scent, was intoxicating.

“Just keep going," he commanded breathlessly, "don’t stop. Rub your clit, Omega, do it now.”

She slid her other hand down, and a few shaking strokes was enough to send her crashing into the strongest orgasm she had ever experienced. Her own cries were echoed by his low moans from the other side of the wall.

“I hope that helped,” he offered quietly after a few minutes of silence as they both caught their breath. 

The worst of her discomfort had subsided, but she still felt empty and hollow. “It helped,” she assured him, but he must have heard the uncertainty in her voice.

“You want more,” he said flatly. “Wanting a knot is nothing to be ashamed of. Rose told me she had made sure you had access to the kind of things you would need. I’m sure the toys are designed to fill that need for you. If you just follow your instincts, you’ll be fine now.”

“Is that what it takes? Instinct?”

“For the most part,” he confirmed. “You just have to use your common sense with it.”

She laughed bitterly.

She’d always had poor instincts when it came to her own desires, so it was no surprise that she had handled all of this so poorly. Work was the only place she had ever known what to do, in her personal life she’d never even known what she needed.

“You can do it,” he assured her. “What are your instincts telling you to do right now?”

She paused, thinking carefully about what she wanted most at that moment.

“Why did you do so much to help me?” she asked finally, realizing that she wanted answers more than she wanted a knot. Her body could wait, but he was leaving soon, and her answers couldn’t. “You haven’t asked me for anything in return.”

“I helped you because I wanted to,” he said bluntly. “You deserve to have someone take care of you.”

“How do you know that? You don’t even really know me.”

“I don’t know where you were born or your favorite color,” he acknowledged. “But I know you. I know you’re stubborn, loyal, and too hard on yourself. I know you’re kind and easily embarrassed. I know I could sit and talk to you for hours and never run out of things to say. I know that you’d listen.”

“You must be a very devoted friend then, if you treat every decent person you meet this well” she said carefully.

“I am, but I don’t want to just be your friend.”

“You can’t mean that,” she protested quickly. “How do you know it isn’t just your hormones and you mating instincts?”

“I’m sure a lot of it is instinct, but I use my common sense, remember? You were already one of the most beautiful women and amazing women I’d ever met, and that was before you were were also the best thing I’ve ever smelled. I wanted you before you presented and that’s how I know.”

She stayed there for several minutes in silence, with her head pressed against the wall and her heart beating too hard and too fast in her chest.

Her fear was telling her to open the toy bag Rose had brought her and make due with what was inside until he was gone and her heat was over, but her instincts…her instincts were screaming at her to go to him before it was too late.

“Ben? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here.” He sounded tired and frustrated, but he hadn’t stepped away from the wall.

“If I come over there, and I don’t know for sure if I will, but if I do…I don’t know exactly what that means, ok? I don’t want you to think that it would automatically mean that I was ready to be your mate forever.”

“If you come, and I’m not saying you have to, then we would just worry about this heat and then we can deal with whatever comes after.”

“I’m going to take a shower and think about it,” she said firmly.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Take as much time as you need.” 

She had only taken a few steps toward the bathroom, heat once again clinging to her skin as a new ache began to twist in her stomach, when she stopped.

She didn’t need to think about it anymore.

Maybe it had never been what she wanted but she was an Omega now and Ben had been there for her since before this whole horrible mess started. She would be lying to herself if she denied being attracted to him since the minute they met and he had admitted to feeling the same way.

Her hormones had been begging for him since she had first caught his scent, but her common sense had been telling her the same thing since the beginning. She just hadn’t been prepared to listen. She hadn't been able to engage with anything over her own fears.

But the worst had already happened-she had lost her job, presented as an Omega, and given far too much control of herself to some Alpha she hardly knew- and without the fear of all those things in the way, all she wanted was Ben.

She would be safe with him, and happy, for as long as she chose to be.

His jaw dropped when he opened his door and found her standing in the hallway moments later wearing nothing but his blankets.

“Can I take that shower in your room instead?”

His smile was slow and wolfish and it made her heart pound and need twist hotly inside her. There was no going back now.


	6. A Mate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a bit longer because it's my first time writing A/B/O elements in sex and I am trying to write better (hotter) smut in general so I didn't want to rush it. Thanks for your patience and encouragement though this process!

She expected him to pounce on her as soon as the door closed, and part of her was disappointed when he didn’t. The recent rush of orgasm had taken the edge off her need, but she was still hot and empty and his room was so full of his enticing scent.

Instead he led her to the bathroom, his large hand wrapped around her small one and her skin tingling from the contact.

In answer to her unspoken question, he pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist, his lips plush and soft as they trailed sensually across her skin.

“I promised you a shower.”

He tugged at the blankets, letting them drop to the floor at her feet. He stood for a moment, looking at her naked body like he was trying to memorize every dip and curve, before he reached with a trembling hand to brush his fingers down her arm, leaving a trail of fire from her shoulder to her elbow.

“It’s not fair if I’m the only one who’s naked,” she challenged, taking a step closer and delighting in the way his lips parted and his eyes darkened as she closed the distance between them.

He reached for the hem of the shirt he was wearing, pulling it over his head in one smooth swift motion and revealing the expanse of hard muscle and pale skin that had been lingering in her mind since she first saw his bare chest.

Knowing that she was going to finally get to touch him caused her breath to catch in her throat and her fingers flex instinctively at her sides.

He watched her closely as he slowly pushed his pants over his hips, and her eyes following the trail of dark hair that began low on his abdomen and traveling slowly down each inch of newly revealed skin.

She swallowed hard. “I’ve never seen a knot before,” she whispered. His cock had begun to harden again and he was already big, bigger than anything she had seen, how would it ever fit inside her once he was fully hard? How could his knot possibly swell even bigger than that?

“Does it make you nervous?” He pulled her closer, his hands resting comfortingly on her hips and his face dipped toward her in concern.

“Yes,” she said honestly. “I don’t think that is going to fit….but I want it to.”

His rumbled low in his throat at the admission, the sound rich and thrilling to her ears.

“We’ll make it fit,” he promised. “I’ll make you so desperate that you’re begging for it.”

She was almost ready to beg for it now as she looked at the sculpted contours of his body, the way the bright artificial light of the small hotel bathroom caused shadows to dance across the planes of his face.

Every time he looked at her with those fathomless eyes and smiled at her with that soft grin, she had wanted him more.

She had never been an eager lover, never really cared that much about sex, but even with the echoes of a recent orgasm lingering in her mind, fresh slick pooled between her thighs. She wanted him to take her now, rut into her on the hard bathroom floor.

He had other ideas.

He ran the water cold- cold enough that it caused him to shiver and shake before even took her by the hand and pulled her in beside him-but it still wasn’t cold enough to soothe, not now, not when his hands were sliding gently over her skin and his lips lingered softly on her shoulder.

If she thought she had been hot before, it was only because she could never have imagined what real heat felt like.

She ran her hands down his body, marveling at the broadness of his chest and the hard bunch of muscle that tightened beneath her fingers as she caressed the flat plane of his stomach.

He trailed his hand down her back, fingers tracing each rise and fall of her spine, before cupping her ass in his hand. She shuddered when he squeezed, molding the flesh possessively.

She moaned, arching toward him, offering more. There was no room left in her for shyness, not when the scent of him was all around her and his eyes watched her every move with such intensity, with desire she had never seen.

Like he wanted nothing else in the world as much as he wanted her.

He pressed her back against the wall, hitching her leg up over his hip and opening her up as he pressed against her and cupped her breast in his hand, rolling her nipple between his fingers and swearing savagely under his breath when she whined and writhed against him.

“You’re so hot, Omega, so needy,” he breathed against her skin. “I’m going to take care of you.”

_Yes Yes Alpha_

He dipped his head and pressed his mouth to her breast, teeth sliding across the delicate peak. She fisted her hands in his hair, soft and silken between her fingers, holding him in place as he nipped and sucked, and heat poured through her body while hot slick ran down her thighs and mingled with the cold water. 

When he had driven her to a babbling and incoherent mess of desire, he let go of her breast and began kissing his way over her chest and up her neck, finally rubbing his nose gently against her swollen mating gland and making her gasp and buck against him.

“That’s new,” she panted, clutching hard to his arms to steady herself as waves of intense pleasure rolled through her with each touch to her newly developed gland. It was so sensitive and throbbed with each beat of her racing heart.

She felt him smile against her skin, pressing his lips to the gland before caressing it with his tongue and sliding his teeth softly against the delicate skin.

It would be so simple, so effortless. One quick bite and she would be his forever.

She shook and mewled, tipping her head instinctively to expose more of her neck to his teeth.

“Not yet,” he admonished, “Not until you ask me to and you mean it.”

“What if I never ask?” The question slipped out unbidden and she whined in protest when he immediately stopped and looked into her eyes, a blue tinge to his skin as he let the cold water run over him.

“I told you we would deal with this heat first, and we will, but I’ll be there for the next one and the one after that,” he told her, his voice heavy with passion and promise. “I’ll keep waiting, forever if I have to.”

There was no lie in his eyes, just a certainty and a determination that she believed to her core.

Trust your instincts, he had told her. Her instincts told her that she could trust him, but…“You were going to leave,” she said accusingly.

“I was,” he admitted. “Because I thought it was what you wanted. But I had already canceled the flight before I came back to the hotel. I couldn’t leave you here alone, not knowing if those other Alphas would back. I had to protect you. I had to be here if you needed me.”

He gripped her chin firmly in his hand, refusing to let her look away, when she shifted uncomfortably at his words. She wasn’t used to needing anyone.

“I’m going to be there for you if you need me for as long as it takes for you to realize that you want me to stay,” he swore, and maybe he didn’t mean it, maybe it was just the hormones and the scent of her heat that was driving him to say things he was going to regret, but right now none of that mattered.

She pulled him in, slotting her lips over his and letting him carry her under as the onslaught of sensation overwhelmed her.

He pressed his tongue hungrily into the cavern of her mouth, and she savored the sweetness of his taste on her tongue. His lips were soft against her own, a stark contrast to the occasional subtle nibble of his teeth as he devoured her.

He took from her ruthlessly, demanding more as she gave softly beneath his caresses.

The shift of energy between them was subtle, but undeniable. He had made his intention to claim her perfectly clear and she hadn’t refuted him.

He already thought of her as his Omega, now he was just waiting for her to say yes.

She wrapped her arms around him, sobbing her desperation against his mouth and pressing her body against him to seek relief as he fanned the flames of her need to an intolerable level.

When he finally ran his hand down her stomach and finally slid his fingers into her folds, she clamped her thighs hard around his hand, determined to keep him there.

He buried his face in her shoulder and pressed into her, his much larger fingers making her feel fuller than her own slender ones ever could. He circled her clit with lazily with thumb, pulling moans from her with each stroke.

He worked his fingers inside her, praising her with half understood words whispered against the heat of her flesh as he drove her to an intense peak that left her weak and panting as she slumped against the shower wall.

He brought his hand to his mouth, his eyes never leaving hers as he sucked the taste of her from each finger.

“You taste so sweet,” he murmured, and then hissed out a startled breath when she wrapped her fingers around his aching cock, gripping him firmly at the base and letting her hand slide up his length as she explored his body.

“I’m not going to come until I’m inside you,” he warned her.

She nodded absently, humming her appreciation of his length as she caressed the thick head with her thumb.

A new thought occurred to her, something thrilling that had her pressing her thighs together with a new surge of arousal.

“I’m on the pill,” she told him casually, “so that won’t be a problem.”

“You’re ok with not using a condom?” he asked in surprise, snapping his eyes back up to hers.

“I’ve never done it without one,” she explained. “I want to do it with you. I want to feel it when you come inside me. Is that ok?”

“God, yes,” he gasped between clenched teeth, his body shuddering with each stroke of her hand until she could feel him fighting the urge to come.

“Enough,” he finally told her, pulling her hand away and snapping off the shower water.

She yelped in surprise when he swept her into his arms, and she clung to him tightly as he carried her the bed, her face pressed into the skin of his neck and drinking in the scent of him.

He lay her still dripping onto the sheets and nudged her knees apart with his hands.

“So beautiful,” he told her, staring at her with unmasked awe. “I wanna taste you.”

She had never really enjoyed having a man go down on her. It stripped her of her tightly held control, made her feel too vulnerable. But when Ben dropped his head between her legs and ran his tongue up her center, she bowed beneath him in pleasure.

It was like nothing she had ever experienced. She felt no shame, no shyness as he licked shamelessly at her folds before dipping inside to fuck her with his tongue. She tangled her fingers in his hair and opened herself to him, spreading her legs wider and tilting her hips, before crying out her pleasure when he sucked greedily on the sensitive bud of her clit.

As she neared her peak, he lifted his head to watch, replacing the heat of his mouth with the gentle circular stoke of his thumb as he slid his broad fingers inside her.

The new sensation, the glorious fullness, was suddenly more than she could take. Her body arched and she began to convulse rhythmically around his hand, drenching him in slick with her orgasm.

She called his name as her world came apart.

“Fuck, Omega, you’re perfect. You look so pretty with your tight little cunt coming around my fingers.” He pressed a kiss to the inside of her slick damp thigh and shot her a bright smile that made her heart flutter in her chest.

_Alpha is happy_

The praise and the knowledge that she pleased him blended seamlessly with the aftershocks of her orgasm as they rolled through her, leaving her stunned at the depth of satisfaction that he had been able to pull from her.

When she floated lazily back to full awareness she found him watching her with rapt attention.

He was beautiful and her heart swelled.

_Alpha_

This time the thought brought her nothing but contentment.

Her body was still soft and languid when he began to run his hands across her in a new exploration, but a quick flick of his tongue across her nipple was enough to strike a spark of arousal.

He took his time, drawing gasps of pleasure as he mapped his way across her skin, and murmuring terms of endearment as he went. He was patient, the still painfully hard length of him pressed firmly against her hip, but she knew he was prepping her to be ready to take his knot.

She rolled her hips to take more of him when he slipped his fingers inside her again. He worked her until she was absolutely drenched, filthy with slick, but still he kept going, driving her desire higher with each stroke, finding the perfect spot inside her and hooking his fingers to rub against her obscenely.

By the time he drug her beneath him she was quivering and panting his name.

“Did your Beta boyfriend ever touch you like this?” he whispered possessively.

She shook her head, tossing it from side to side as he lined up himself against the entrance to her body and pressed inside slightly.

“No one else is ever going to fuck you again,” he told her.

“No,” she agreed, fully willing to give him anything he asked for. “No one else.”

“Tell me what those other Alphas smelled like,” he demanded.

She tried to conjure the memory, but even their faces were an indistinct blur. “I don’t remember. It was nothing special.”

“Am I special?” he asked, finally pushing inside her slowly, her body stretching just to the point of pain to accommodate him. He sucked in a breath as she clawed his arms to hold on to something solid as he filled her.

“Yes,” she gasped.

“Yes? How am I special Omega?”

She whined pitifully as he pulled out and drove in again, pining her arms above her head as he began to work himself inside her.

“You smell…like home,” she admitted between thrusts.

“Hmm,” he murmured, licking the swollen gland at her throat and sending vicious waves of pleasure through her that echoed what he was giving her as she clenched down tight around him.

“You’re so tight,” he told her, nuzzling his face into her neck. “Maybe you can’t take my knot after all?”

“I can,” she insisted, pushing her hips against him and straining against the hands that held her wrists.

“But you’re already so full,” he murmured, tracing the shell of her ear with his tongue and making her shiver.

“I need more,” she panted, amazed to find that it was true.

He growled and pressed deeper, wringing a new moan from her with each thrust as he worked his knot inside her and it began to swell.

“More,” she begged, heedless now of anything but the way he made her body feel and the instincts that were driving her.

He kissed her deeply as his thrusts became messy and urgent, his practiced rhythm dissolving into the need to claim and possess.

The sound of wetness, of him fucking into her when she was so coated in slick, was _indecent_ and it should have been mortifying, but instead it only drove her on, delighting her as she listened to the evidence of her own desire as it mixed with her breathy moans and his deep grunts of satisfaction.

“I’m giving you everything and you’re taking it so well,” he gasped. “My beautiful little Omega.”

_My Alpha_

The words were too much, and her body began to shake and clench around him as she came again.

It was only when Ben swore in surprise, and she felt him flood her insides with warmth, that she realized she had spoken the thought out loud.

He dropped his forehead to rest against her own and she could feel his heart pounding in his chest. His knot was now fully swollen, and she could feel each twitch of his body, each spurt of come that he spilled inside her and as it too filled her up.

He rolled onto his back, dragging her with him until she was resting comfortably on top of him. His eyes were already closed and his breathing slowing.

“Are we really going to be stuck like this?” she asked quietly.

“Hmm? Oh…yeah, we are. Sorry. It would be a good time to take a nap,” he advised. “I’m going to fuck you again as soon as we’re unstuck…and as many times as I can until your heat is over.”

She curled against him, letting her eyes drift closed after finding no fault with the plan for naps between many bouts of sexual ecstasy. 

“Being my Omega doesn’t mean you can’t have a career,” he said suddenly into the silence, his fingers never stopping as they traced a path over the skin of her side, “if that’s something that worries you.”

“Wouldn’t it?” she asked sleepily.

“No,” he said firmly. “Actually, I’m going to go with you when we leave here. My family’s business will be fine without me. I need to be where you are to keep you safe and make sure you’re happy. And since your career makes you happy, I’ll have to go where that is.”

She sat up and looked at him in surprise.

“My career kept me busy and not focused on being lonely or unhappy,” she corrected. “And even if I was going to let you leave your family for some Omega who isn’t even your mate, which I am _not_ going to do, it wouldn’t matter anyway. They fired me.”

“They did what?” he said, leaning up on his elbows in a sudden rage. She was glad that he was still stuck inside her, fearing that if he hadn’t been he might have run naked out into the world to fight her former boss.

The image made her giggle.

“It isn’t funny, Omega,” he said darkly.

“It is,” she said with a smile. “It is a little bit funny, Alpha.”

Her casual of his designation seemed to distract him somewhat, though he didn’t mention that she hadn’t claimed him as her own this time, as she had when she was in throes of passion.

He laid back down, and she got the sense from the way he stared at her with such intense concentration that he was thinking of something very serious and not at all funny.

“You know what?” he blurted abruptly. “That’s fine. Come with me. Move in me and live in my house. It’s not all that insane. You can be close to Rose every day and I’ll give you money to start your own architecture firm. Your boss was a dick anyway.”

“You’d do that? You’d help me with my career?” She tipped her head, images of Beaumont shaming her for her ambitions chasing themselves through her mind.

“I’d help you with anything,” he said earnestly. “If having a career is what you want then I’ll support that. Just come home to me when your work is done. I just want you and I’ll do whatever it takes to make you happy.”

She knew he had money, that wasn’t a surprise after what Rose had told her about his family, but the determination to see her succeed was a shock. After Beaumont she had given up hope of finding someone that would support for her dreams or unconditionally accept who she was as a person.

“Are you serious about all of this?” she asked skeptically.

“Yes…Are you seriously considering doing it?”

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Then that’s enough for me for now,” he told her. “Take your nap.”

She let him settle her head back against his chest and sighed when he ran his fingers through her hair. Thoughts of how much her life had changed in such a short time already, and how much more accepting his offer would change it still, floated aimlessly through her mind as they drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms.

When she woke it was to him kissing her breasts and burying his fingers in her inside her. He had said he was going to fuck her again when they woke up, she remembered dimly. They must have gotten unstuck while she slept.

He kissed his way up her neck, licking at her gland and sending fire running through her veins. it burned away her doubts. leaving her mind suddenly clear. She knew exactly what she wanted.

“Do it,” she said softly.

He froze, heart thundering in his chest as he looked at her in disbelief.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she said confidently, cupping his face in her hands and placing a gentle kiss on his lips. “You are everything I needed, even before I knew I needed it. You're my Alpha and I’m sure.”

She tipped her head, exposing her gland to him and waiting with bated breath as he dipped his head to press a soft kiss to the pulsing skin.

Pain mingled inseparably with exquisite pleasure when he bit down on the gland, blood running free to drip across his tongue as he broke through her skin with his teeth, locking them together for life as a mated pair.

It was done.

He ran his tongue over the bruised and broken flesh, soothing the lingering ache with a pleasurable touch.

“Please,” she begged quietly. “I need you.”

They mated in a frenzy of hard thrusts, each gripping with hands hard enough to bruise, nails and teeth leaving marks in every intimate place as they lay solidified their claim.

When they were done, she collapsed into his arms in a heap of exhaustion, easily slipping into a deep sleep.

She knew he would want her again when they woke.

***

The sun was bright in the sky when they woke to a loud knock and Rose’s voice yelling Ben’s name.

Rey lifted her head in confusion, dazed and sore after a night of being knotted repeatedly by her enthusiastic new mate.

Her skin was still flushed, and she could feel the need to mate rising, but it wasn’t overwhelming just yet.

Ben opened his eyes with a start, reaching for her on instinct and only settling when his hands found the warmth of her hip.

“What is that noise?” Rey asked blurrily.

“Ah,” he said with a grin, “ that’s the sound of it being time to face the consequences of my actions. No regrets?”

She shook her head, recognizing Rose’s voice and understanding the scene that was to follow. She pulled him in for a passionate kiss. “Never.”

Rose blew in like an angry whirlwind when he opened the door, her face scrunched up in anger. “Is she here? Where is she? How could you?” she demanded, taking in his mussed hair and the pajama pants slung low on his hips. “You were supposed to be on a plane an hour ago!”

Ben stepped back to let her enter, hands up in a gesture of surrender. “She’s here,” he admitted.

“I can’t believe you took advantage of my friend! I’m going to get Hux to kick your ass!”

“It’s a bit late for all that,” Rey said with a laugh.

Rose’s eyes widened as she took in her friend’s disheveled appearance and the bruised and bloodied imprint of Ben’s teeth on her gland.

“You’re mated?” She was dumbfounded.

Rey nodded happily.

“You know me. You know I’ll take care of her,” Ben said calmly.

“I just…I can’t. You didn’t even want to be an Omega!” Rose exclaimed, propping her hands on her hips and glaring at both of them. “Now look at you! Less than a day later and already stuck with each other because no one was behaving responsibly.”

“I didn’t want to be an Omega,” Rey explained carefully, “but I think I needed to be one because I was meant to be with Ben. It’s fate,” she said, looking at Ben and remembering their previous conversation with a self-depreciating smile.

“Oh, it’s fate,” Rose said dramatically. “Well I guess that makes it better.”

She whirled on Ben, shaking her finger up at him aggressively. “You _better_ take good care of her!”

“I know. If I don’t, you’ll get Hux to kick my ass.”

Rose sniffed indignantly, but she left them alone, still shaking her head and muttering in confusion as she closed the door behind her.

Rey giggled, knowing her friend would come around when she realized how deliriously happy Ben made her.

“I thought she’d never leave,” Ben said suggestively, pulling the blanket off her and turning her on her stomach to enter her from behind. “I dreamed about this.”

“Me, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the end of the story except for a short epilogue. Thank you so much for reading and I am so grateful for all the love and the comments on this fic!


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The epilogue here is just a short and sweet goodbye to these two, but I wanted to show how things turned out for them. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story!

_One year Later_

Venus still stood guard over the fountain, enticing passersby with her secret smile.

Relief washed over Rey at the sight of her. She had worried that maybe, somehow, things would be different when they came back. That the city might have lost its romance or the fountain its edge of thinly veiled magic.

She had known her fears were unfounded the moment she had stepped off the plane. Rome was timeless and it welcomed her back as though she had never left, but it soothed the last of her ragged nerves to see that Venus had not changed either.

She owed the fountain so much.

Ben tipped his head and stared down at her skeptically. “You still give her all the credit, huh?”

“Absolutely,” Rey said certainly. “You said it yourself. That taking a coin from the fountain would give you anything you needed to find love. I _needed_ to be an Omega. I _needed_ to get fired. I _needed_ to be in the room next to you when all of that happened.”

She had known it since she had finally packed her hotel room after that first fateful heat and found the old silver coin still lying on the table where she had abandoned it after taking it out of her pocket.

He shrugged. “Makes sense to me. If you got me out of the deal, then it was definitely worth all the trouble.”

She wrinkled her nose doubtfully at her husband. “Getting you was pretty good, but that day my boss called to beg me to come back? Getting to tell him I couldn’t because I owned a firm of my own and he was a selfish piece of shit? That was pretty good, too.”

He nodded. “No argument here. That _was_ actually pretty good.”

“Hey, are you two ready? Rose wants to see one more museum before we head back to the hotel,” Hux called, beckoning them from the other side of the square.

“We’ll be right there,” Rey called with a wave.

“I’m so glad she decided to forgive me for taking advantage of you,” Ben said with a chuckle. “I really think she could have talked Hux into trying to kick my ass.”

“I don’t think she did until you married me,” Rey told him honestly. “But I am sure that paying for them to come on this vacation with us would have sealed the deal anyway.”

“It was the least I could do after we ruined their honeymoon,” he said pointedly. “I think we traumatized everyone that weekend.”

Rey winced. “I can’t believe they let us back into the same hotel.”

“I paid them extra,” he admitted.

She leaned up on her toes to press a kiss to his cheek “Did you really? You’re so sentimental.”

He didn’t deny it. “Come on, let’s go before we get in more trouble with Rose.”

“Just one more thing,” Rey said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a coin. It wasn’t the one that she had taken, that one she wore on a chain around her neck, but it was small and silver. A gift to the fountain from a pair of new lovers, just the thing that would help pass along her own good fortune to the next lonely soul in need of a little magic.

She sighed contentedly as she watched it sink beneath the surface with a ripple.


End file.
